


Marching On

by Nevanna



Category: X-Men Evolution
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-22
Updated: 2015-02-22
Packaged: 2018-03-14 14:42:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,765
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3414500
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nevanna/pseuds/Nevanna
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the battle on Asteroid M, Scott does his best to put aside his lingering doubts.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Marching On

**Author's Note:**

> This story takes place before, during, and directly after Episode 2.01, "Growing Pains."

Since the jet lifted off, Alex had barely said a word. As they dropped through another layer of clouds, Scott leaned over and asked if he was all right.

“I’m cool.” Alex shook his head. “It’s just been a really weird day.”

“Tell me about it.”

“I’m still not sure what I’m going to tell my folks…”

It took Scott a moment to realize that Alex was actually talking about his foster parents. “We’ll help you figure out what to say.” Most of his teammates had told their families what they were, even if mutants were still a secret from the rest of the world.

“I’m picturing it now. ‘Hey, Mom and Dad, I just got back from a supervillain’s secret asteroid base. This is my brother, who I thought was dead, and we both have mutant superpowers.’” Alex grinned nervously. “Man, I _want_ to tell them the truth. I just hope they don’t freak out.”

“If they do, then Professor Xavier can take care of that.”

Alex looked skeptical. “Oh, yeah?”

“Like I said, we’ll help you however we can,” Scott promised. “It’s kind of what we do.”

\--

A week after they returned to the Institute, Scott found himself sharing cleanup duty with Jean when dinner was over. They worked in a silence that he tried to believe was comfortable, until it occurred to him to ask her how her college visits were going.

“Pretty well, when I can actually make them. I’m going to have to find another time to visit Brown, because… well, you know.” She laughed. He thought he could listen to it forever. “I’m thinking of going with ‘family emergency’ as an excuse.” She waved a hand at a cupboard across the room. It swung open, and a stack of plates sailed onto the shelf. “It’s not really a lie.”

“I understand.” Scott pretended to be very interested in arranging the silverware in the dishwasher. “Maybe better than anyone.” He hoped that the fight on Asteroid M would be the last time that either he or Alex would have to choose between each other and the families that they had found.

He wasn’t sure if Jean said something else just then, because Professor Xavier’s voice was filling his head, crowding out his own thoughts. _**Cyclops, when you’re quite finished in the kitchen, please join Storm and me in my study. You will be accompanying us on our next recruiting mission.**_

\--

Jubilation Lee spent most of the grand tour trying not to look impressed with the grounds of the Institute, or with the rooms upon rooms, including her own. When Scott asked her if she had any questions, she jerked a thumb back at the door they’d just passed. “What’s through there?”

“Training facilities.”

She blew a bubble with her gum. “You mean, a gym and stuff?”

“‘And stuff,’” Scott agreed. “One thing at a time, though. We’re going to let you settle in before we show you the big picture.” Just as Jean had to make up a story to tell the Brown admissions office, he had known better than to mention the Danger Room or life-threatening missions to Jubilee (as she called herself) while her aunt was hovering over them. 

Later, he had time to reflect that, although she didn’t seem to have any more questions, he had a few of his own. He wasn’t sure that he would ever voice them aloud, and would have to hope that nobody was listening in. How much of the “big picture” was still being hidden from them? Why hadn’t they known about a mutant as dangerous as Magneto, or about whatever game he and Charles Xavier had been playing? If he and Mystique turned up again, which of the X-Men would be allowed to know about it? And how many of the new recruits would jump into their new lives headfirst, and which of them would want to run, as Alex had, in the opposite direction?

\--

In the parking lot after school, as they were waiting for the others, Kurt paused to wave at a pretty, dark-skinned girl whom Scott didn’t recognize. “Friend of yours?” he asked.

“Her name is Amanda,” Kurt informed him as the girl waved back. “She’s in my math class.”

“Is she seeing anybody?”

Kurt shook his head. “Not that I know of.”

“But you still haven’t talked to her? Okay, who are you, and what have you done with…” Scott trailed off, remembering all the shapes that their former principal had taken. “I really just asked that, didn’t I?”

“I wasn’t going to say anything.” Kurt lowered his voice. “Anyway, even if she wanted to go out with me, I would have to hide what I look like, what I really am.”

“Not necessarily…”

“ _Yes_ , necessarily,” Kurt insisted. “I would have to be careful every single minute, and…” Now it was his turn to realize what he’d been saying. “Sorry, man.”

“It’s okay,” Scott assured him. “I get it.” While he had to conceal his mutation because of what he might do to other people, Kurt had to conceal his own because of what other people might do to _him_. He hadn’t needed to be told why secrecy was so important.

Until the moment that innocent lives were at stake, Scott rarely questioned it himself.

\--

Before they went their separate ways, Alex had tried to explain what it felt like when Magneto’s machine had messed with their minds. _I didn’t care about my parents,_ he’d said, _or my friends, or what would happen if I didn’t make it home. I didn’t care about anything except doing what Magneto said, even if it ended up getting people killed._ At that moment, he’d looked a little too much like the five-year-old boy who had once worried about the monsters under the bed.

If Scott had to explain how it felt to be controlled like that, he might have said that it was like running through tactics on the battlefield, real or simulated… without the threat of fear, uncertainty, or doubt that usually lurked at the edge of every call he made.

When Avalanche addressed their classmates at the soccer game, revealing the existence of mutants to the world, the chilling possibilities ran through Scott’s head with the same deadly precision: _He doesn’t care how much damage he does. He doesn’t care that we’ll be taken away for experimentation or worse. We have to stop this. We have to stop this._

In an instant, Cyclops pushed those worries aside, and reached for the backpack that contained his uniform, as the flames roared toward the sky and the people around him started screaming.

\--

It had been a long day, and a longer night, and Scott was looking forward to either falling into bed or programming a Danger Room simulation that would give him a chance to punch Lance Alvers repeatedly in the face. Both of those options, however, would have to wait.

Two of the new recruits were waiting for him as soon as he turned a corner in the hallway. “Is the professor gonna be okay?” asked Jamie Madrox, the youngest of the group.

“He’ll be fine,” Scott replied. “He had to… you both know what happened, right?” They nodded. “He had to use a lot of power to make the witnesses forget what they heard.”

“‘Make them forget’?” Jubilee echoed. “Just like that?” Despite her disinterested front, she hadn’t been able to hide her enthusiasm about training to use her powers, or about living with other people like herself. “Can he do that to anybody?”

“Only when he needs to.” Alex had asked a similar question, and Scott hadn’t been sure at first what to say. He wished that he didn’t know what the next question was going to be.

Jubilee narrowed her eyes. “Could he do it to _us_?”

“That won’t happen.” Scott spoke with as much conviction as he could, but the kids still looked skeptical. “Look… both of you know that I could blast through a wall when I’ve had a bad day. But you don’t think I really would, do you?” Jamie shook his head immediately, Jubilee more slowly. “Thanks, I appreciate it.” She almost smiled at that. “You trust me to use my powers responsibly, just like we’re all being taught to do. And I trust the professor and Jean to do the same thing.”

“I guess that makes sense,” Jubilee admitted.

“I know that this life isn’t easy to get used to, in a lot of ways,” Scott told her. “But I think you’ll find that it’s worth it. And the important thing is, we’re all safe again.”

Later, when he finally closed his eyes, he dreamed of fire and explosions and the cold stars above Magneto’s asteroid, of scalpels slicing into his eyes, and into his friends’ and brother’s skins. 

\--

The next morning, Scott came downstairs ahead of everybody else, to find Professor Xavier seated by the dining room window, a cup of tea in hand. “Good morning, Scott.”

“Morning, Professor. How are you feeling?”

“Much better, thank you. Did you sleep well?” He cast Scott a sidelong glance and didn’t wait for an answer. “I hope you know that I’m proud of you.”

“Thanks…?”

“I’m quite serious,” Xavier continued. “You were conflicted about maintaining our anonymity, but you were able to concentrate on helping innocent bystanders in a crisis, and to put aside your personal feelings in favor of what was best for everybody. Sometimes, being in charge means making choices that, in a perfect world, we wouldn’t have to make.”

“That’s not the world we’ve got, though,” Scott said. “Not yet, anyway. If it were, you wouldn’t have to…” _Do that to anybody,_ he thought. “But I understand why you did.”

“I’m glad. And I thank you for your trust.”

Footsteps sounded in the hallway, followed by raised voices, and Jean’s familiar laughter. Scott imagined her impressing her college interviewers, holding everybody’s attention because of _who_ , not _what_ , she was; and making both of her families proud. He thought of Kurt, uncertain of whether to reveal his true self to his crush but happy and grateful to _have_ a choice, and of the new recruits who finally had a place to belong in a world that didn’t always understand them. Thousands of miles away, Alex was charting his own course, wherever it might lead. 

Another day was about to begin, with its share of secrets to keep and disasters to avoid, but it was another day that the X-Men were still together, and for the moment, that was enough.

**Author's Note:**

> Many thanks (yet again) to KatiaSwift, for being my first reader, keeping me company through the editing process, and making me laugh by coining "Sadclops" - not necessarily in that order. <3


End file.
